Tag: NGV International

As part of the the NGV’s winter exhibition on Edgar Degas the gallery is hosting a symposium with international experts on the artist. From his paintings of ballerinas to the social world of Parisian nightlife, Degas’ works demonstrate great technical, conceptual and expressive skill and reveal his openness to experiment with a range of mediums. Date: 2-5pm, Friday 24th June 2016 Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV International Bookings required – book online here. Tickets $35 A / $28 M / $30 C (includes light refreshment) Speakers Henri Loyrette, Exhibition Curator Henri Loyrette is a French arts administrator and historian who served as director of the Louvre Museum in Paris from 2001 to 2013 and is now president of Admical, a nonprofit organization involved in corporate philanthropy. Loyrette received a master’s degree in history and studied in Rome at the Academy of France (1975–77). Upon…

The NGV is asking for donations to support its acquisition of François Marie Poncet’s 1782 ‘Vénus’. Poncet was a French sculptor who was a pupil of the famous Etienne-Maurice Falconet at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. He left for Rome in 1760 and spent much of his career in Italy. His first fifteen years in Rome seem to have been spent at the fringes of the Académie de France (he had twice entered the Prix de Rome but been unsuccessful), in contact with British, German and Scandinavian Neo-classical artists. In 1771 he was elected to the Accademia degli Arcadi, and on a journey to Paris in 1775, Poncet stopped in Lyon, where he was received (reçu) as a member of the Lyon academy. At Ferney he made a bust of Voltaire, a striking masterpiece of great realism and vitality. In…

The National Gallery of Victoria’s latest loan exhibition is based around a single painting by James McNeil Whistler – his Arrangement in grey and black no. 1 of 1871, popularly known as the Portrait of the artist’s mother, or just ‘Whistler’s Mother’. Compared to the just-closed Warhol/Wei Wei summer blockbuster, this is a small, intimate exhibition. The painting is on loan from the Musée d’Orsay and the exhibition is filled out with etchings, prints, paintings, furniture and decorative arts from the NGV’s permanent collection. The exhibition sets this single painting into a fresh context, one that enriches our understanding of Whistler and allows us to see works from the NGV collection in a new light. I find it impossible to really talk about this exhibition without first dealing with the language being used to promote it. We are told (in the marketing…

A World of Things: Exchange and Material Culture in the First Global Age, 1500-1800 | Robert Wilson Annual Lecture 2016 | Professor Giorgio Riello, Director of the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study and Professor of History at Warwick University We are often told that we live in an age of globalization, one of growing homogenization of consumption, increasing communication and cultural and economic integration. Yet the study of material culture suggests that today’s global connectedness is not new. The early modern period (c. 1500-1800) can be seen as the ‘first global age’ as contact between different parts of the world intensified. Explore the artefacts of the first global age and the role of material culture in creating global connectivity with prize-winning historian Giorgio Riello. Date: Mon 2 May, 6.30pm Venue: NGV International Free entry – Book now on the NGV website http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/program/a-world-of-things-exchange-and-material-culture-in-the-first-global-age-1500-1800/#date0 The…

Update: Please note that the CFP deadline is now the 13th May. A symposium on the picture frame AICCM – FRAME: Concept, History and Conservation, Melbourne 2016, will be convened on 24-26 August 2016 at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Convenors: Louise Bradley (AICCM), Barbara Dabrowa (Senior Conservator of Frames at Art Gallery of NSW) and Holly McGowan-Jackson (Senior Conservator of Framing, NGV) Call for Papers The Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material, Conservation Framing and Gilded Objects (special interest groups) will hold this international symposium, encompassing both traditional framing as well as broader concepts of framing for the presentation of modern and contemporary art and design. This wide-ranging theme will appeal to many potential speakers and delegates including artists, curators, conservators, historians, designers and frame makers. Our symposium will coincide with the NGV Winter Masterpieces exhibition Degas,…

Starting this Sunday there are several floor talk from curators and other experts on aspects of the current ‘Whistler’s Mother’ exhibition at NGV. With his long mane of curly dark hair, monocle, tailored coat and French top hat, James McNeil Whistler was a showman and self-described ‘dandy’ Along with his theatrical public persona, he was an extraordinary painter and printmaker; creating some of the nineteenth century’s most radical and influential works. At a time when moral lessons and storytelling dominated British art, Whistler was an uncompromising aesthete. He believed in the visual and sensual qualities of art and design over practical, moral or narrative considerations. Hear contemporary voices and curators explore the mark made by Whistler on style, art and design in this floor talk series Redefining Whistler. Sun 10 Apr, 11am | Printmaking Past and Present Speakers Martin King, Senior…

Born in Taiwan and currently living in Paris, Lee Mingwei creates participatory installations that explore trust, intimacy, and self-awareness. His open-ended scenarios and one-on-one interactive works invite audiences to play a role and use everyday interactions, like eating, sleeping and walking in powerful ways. In a lunchtime lecture, Lee Mingwei shares insights into his work. The talk will be followed by a Q&A with Simon Maidment, Curator, Contemporary Art. Lee Mingwei | Born in Taiwan in 1964 and currently living in Paris, Lee Mingwei creates participatory installations, where strangers can explore issues of trust, intimacy, and self-awareness, and one-on-one events, where visitors contemplate these issues with the artist through eating, sleeping, walking and conversation. Lee’s projects are often open-ended scenarios for everyday interaction, and take on different forms with the involvement of participants and change during the course of an exhibition.…

Apologies for the short notice. The NGV is holding a student night TONIGHT Monday 29th Feb. Anyone with a student card is invited to view the exhibition tonight at a discount price. Website. Warhol/Weiwei Student Night Mon 29 Feb, 5.30pm–9pm NGV International An exclusive evening for VCE and tertiary students. Enjoy pop up talks, drawing with artist Kenny Pittock, pop art selfies in Studio Cats and music provided by local DJ. Refreshments available from Gallery Kitchen and exhibition pop up shop will also be open. All for the student friendly price of $13 (with valid student card).

Two artists, three cities. Journeying through similar times and places, though never crossing paths, Andy Warhol’s and Ai Weiwei’s work and life have been shaped by the cities of Beijing, Pittsburgh and New York. How have time and place shaped Andy Warhol, Ai Weiwei and their artworks? What legacy have these artists had on the cities they called home? Each week guest speakers explore these questions through the lens of the city: Pittsburgh, New York and Beijing, sharing illustrated insights into Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei’s artistic practice and revealing the impact of the city, time and place on these two influential artists. Purchase series here. Or purchase tickets to individual lectures here. Sat 13 Feb, 2pm – A Tale of Three Cities: Where it began – Andy Warhol in Pittsburgh Speakers Dr Sylvia Harrison, Honorary Research Associate, La Trobe University…

The NGV has organised a series of talks and lectures to celebrate the opening of their summer exhibition Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei. Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th at 11am | Curatorial Introduction to the exhibition . Learn more about the artistic practices of Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei with a curatorial introduction by Max Delany, Senior Curator, Contemporary Art Cost $8 M / $12 A / $10 C. Bookings here. Saturday 12th December 3pm | Lecture – Andy Warhol: The Man and the Artist | Eric Shiner, Director, The Andy Warhol Museum Opening to the public only seven years after the artist’s death, The Andy Warhol Museum is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. Located in his hometown of Pittsburgh, the museum was set up to honour Warhol’s wish to help promote art and artists with the proceeds…

The NGV’s Summer blockbuster Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei will explore the mutual conceptual interests of Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei. More than 300 works will be presented, including rare and never-seen-before works by Andy Warhol, new commissions by Ai Weiwei, immersive installations and a wide representation of painting, sculpture, film, photography, music, publishing and social media. One of China’s most provocative artists, Ai has become a cultural figure of note, his work encompassing diverse fields including visual art, architecture, cultural criticism, social media and activism. Ai’s work addresses some of the most critical global issues of the early twenty-first century, including the relationship between tradition and modernity, the role of the individual and the state, questions of human rights, and the value of freedom of expression. Ai Weiwei in Conversation will explore Ai’s artistic and philosophical approaches – from…

The NGV today announced that next year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition would be Degas: A New Vision. The major retrospective is being developed by both the National Gallery of Victoria and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, it will open in June 2016 in Melbourne and then travel to Houston in October 2016. After two winter exhibitions based around collections (the Prado in 2014 and the Hermitage in 2015) the NGV is returning to an exhibition based around a single artist. The last such exhibition was Monet in 2013, though single artist exhibitions have been few and far between in the NGV’s winter programming. At the same time they are returning to familiar (and typically popular) territory with nineteenth-century French Art. Based on the announcement the Degas sounds like it will be a solid exhibition, led by Degas expert Henri…

This weekend is the final weekend of the NGV’s Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great. There are talks, drawing and music events over the weekend (see more here http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/programs-events/). I gave a talk at the first Friday Late event on Marie-Anne Collot’s bust of Diderot and thought I would share some of my thoughts on this portrait as a final farewell to the exhibition. In the current exhibition at the NGV of ‘Treasures from the Hermitage’ we enter the exhibition face-to-face with Catherine the Great’s formal royal portrait by Alexander Roslin, a portrait that embodies her position as an autocratic ruler. She is flanked by marble busts of two of France’s leading Enlightenment thinkers, Voltaire and Diderot. Both men enjoyed a type of friendship with Catherine, writing letters and sharing ideas. Catherine was well-travelled, well-educated, spoke…

The study of ancient Egyptian decorative arts tends to focus upon manufactures in glass, precious stones and glazed composition, such a jewellery, containers and sculptures. Ceramics, which were generally undecorated, are viewed as utilitarian and often ignored. Yet during the New Kingdom – Egypt’s Golden Age – elaborately decorated pottery was produced for use on festive occasions within palaces, temples and the homes of the elite. The best quality was made in the period of King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, their likely son Tutankhamun and the king’s father Amenhotep III (1390-1327 BCE), in the royal workshops using a pale blue cobalt pigment and with a wide range of other techniques. It was distributed around the country and has been found as far afield as Syria and the Sudan. This lecture will discuss the decoration of such rare material, looking at…

Design has a history of violence. Aside from commercial and aesthetic successes, many design objects have ambiguous relationships with violence, challenging us with moral ambiguities and inconsistencies. MoMA curator Paola Antonelli explores how design can provide extraordinary insight into society and human nature, uncovering the dark side of the world’s ‘second oldest’ profession. Paola Antonelli is Senior Curator, Architecture and Design and Director of Research and Development at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Antonelli’s work investigates design’s influence on everyday experience, advocating for often overlooked objects and practices. Antonelli recently began adding to the MoMA Collection a range of important contemporary designs – videogames, the @ symbol and Google Map drop pin. Speaker Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design and Director, Research & Development, The Museum of Modern Art, New York Date: 5-6pm, October 4th 2015 Venue:…